Tag: Dragonfly
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NASA approves development of flying drone to explore Saturn’s moon Titan
Artist’s concept of the Dragonfly mission to Saturn’s moon Titan. Credit: NASA NASA officials announced Thursday that the agency will move forward with the development of a plutonium-powered robotic quadcopter drone to explore Saturn’s moon Titan, a hazy world covered with dunes and methane lakes that scientists say is reminiscent of the ancient Earth. The…
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NASA picks a drone for Titan and a return to a comet as prospects for future probes
An artist’s conception shows the sequence leading to the landing of the Dragonfly probe and the deployment of its rotorcraft on Titan. (NASA Illustration) A rotorcraft that could flit around the Saturnian moon Titan and a probe that could bring a sample back from an already-famous comet have emerged as top prospects for a future…
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Titan drone, comet sampler picked as finalists for NASA mission
Artist’s concept of the Dragonfly mission to Saturn’s moon Titan. Credit: NASA NASA has narrowed its choices for a new billion-dollar robotic space mission: A nuclear-powered quadcopter to explore the hazy landscape of Saturn’s largest moon Titan, or a probe to scoop up a piece of a comet and return it to Earth. The space…
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NASA tells SSL and Tethers Unlimited to move forward on orbital assembly system
California-based SSL, formerly known as Space Systems Loral, says it’ll receive continued funding from NASA for an on-orbit satellite assembly program known as Dragonfly. SSL and its partners, including Bothell, Wash.-based Tethers Unlimited, recently completed a successful ground demonstration of the Dragonfly system, which is designed to assemble pieces of space hardware in orbit robotically.…
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SpaceX Falcon 9 rockets preparing for JCSAT-16 and Amos-6 launches
SpaceX is lining up its next two missions, with Falcon 9 hardware currently in pre-launch preparations for launch. In Florida, the Falcon 9 tasked with the JCSAT-16 launch is preparing for a Static Fire test on August 10, while at SpaceX’s test center in Texas, the Amos-6 first stage has been static fired on the…
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SpaceX DragonFly arrives at McGregor for testing
SpaceX’s DragonFly test vehicle has arrived at its test facility in McGregor, Texas. DragonFly will be attached to a large crane, ahead of a series of test firings of its SuperDraco thrusters to set the stage towards the eventual goal of propulsive landings. The first test is set to take place in the next few…